Our goal is to develop teaching modules in the field of Visual Anthropology based on established relationships between UiT – The Arctic University of Norway, EUSP – European University of St. Petersburg, and UAF – The University of Alaska Fairbanks. Drawing on the considerable expertise of the Project’s academic team, each member contributes their own distinctive competencies and resources to the Project.
The link between the practice of Visual Anthropology and the realities of circumpolar cultures is of great academic and political significance. The Arctic has become a region of international activities, intensive geopolitical relationships, and global environmental concerns.
The problems of the Arctic regions cannot be addressed without the active involvement of local populations. While “community involvement” has become a political buzzword in both academia and business, the tradition of collaboration between ethnographers and local populations using visual methods (drawings, maps, photography and films) has a long history.